Good Tuesday morning from Salt Lake City. Today is the 248th day of the year. There are 117 days remaining in 2017.
The clock:
- 42 days until ballots for the 2017 general election are mailed to voters (10/17/2017)
- 63 days until the 2017 election (11/7/2017)
- 139 days until the opening day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (1/22/2018)
- 184 days until the final day of the 2018 Utah Legislature (3/8/2018)
- 427 days until the 2018 midterm elections (11/6/2018)
- 1,155 days until the 2020 presidential election (11/3/2020)
Today’s political TL; DR –
- Democratic congressional candidate Kathie Allen is taking great pains to avoid telling anyone that she’s a Democrat [Utah Policy].
- Our “Political Insiders” say President Donald Trump made a mistake by pardoning Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio [Utah Policy].
- Four Latino members of Utah’s Legislature send an open letter to Utah’s Congressional delegation asking them to take action to protect the hundreds of thousands of Americans who will be impacted by President Trump’s decision to end DACA [Utah Policy, Tribune].
- On this week’s “Beg to Differ” podcast, Bryan Schott, and Mike Winder speak with Bob Marquardt of “Our Schools Now” about their proposal to raise taxes to better fund schools [Utah Policy].
- Two Salt Lake City police officers have been placed on leave following a viral video showing the arrest of a nurse who refused to take blood from an unconscious patient [Deseret News, Tribune].
- Administrators at University Hospital say nurses will no longer interact with police officers [Tribune].
- A number of young immigrants in Utah who benefitted from DACA are worried now that President Trump is poised to end the program [Deseret News].
- Sen. Orrin Hatch urges President Trump to not end the DACA program [Tribune].
- Federal land managers announce they plan to allow oil and gas drilling near Dinosaur National Monument [Deseret News].
- An immigration attorney alleges an increase in the number of people detained by Immigration authorities after they renewed their state-issued driving privilege cards. The state says there’s been no misuse of the state database [Deseret News].
- Police officers are using a new law prohibiting panhandling in traffic to help crack down on drug use in the Rio Grande area in downtown Salt Lake City [Tribune].
- Former first lady Michelle Obama will speak in Salt Lake City at a conference later this month [Deseret News].
- Here’s a pretty good Q&A with Matt Whitlock, the press secretary for Sen. Orrin Hatch [Utah Policy].
- The number of visitors to Utah state parks jumped 16-percent from 2015 to 2016 [Deseret News].
National headlines:
- Congress returns to Washington with just 12 legislative days in the month. During that time, they will have to tackle funding for Hurricane Harvey relief efforts, raising the debt limit and funding the government to avoid a shutdown [NBC News].
- President Donald Trump‘s vaunted negotiating skills haven’t worked during his time in office. He’s going to need to turn that around if he wants Congress to make progress on his agenda this fall [New York Times].
- On Tuesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions will announce that the Trump administration is ending the DACA program, which shields nearly 800,000 children of undocumented immigrants from deportation. The decision will not take effect for six months to give Congress time to act [Associated Press].
- An “exasperated” President Donald Trump reportedly asked aides for a “way out” of his decision on the DACA program [The Hill].
- It’s hard to figure out what Trump is trying to accomplish by ending DACA [BuzzFeed].
- Following another nuclear weapons test, the Trump administration says North Korea is “begging for war.” Washington is urging China and other countries to put more economic pressure on North Korea [New York Times].
- Attention is slowly turning toward several of President Trump’s family members and associates in the investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election [Associated Press].
- Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigative team asked for the transcript of an interview the Senate Intelligence Committee conducted with former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, but Manafort’s lawyers refused to release the document [CNN].
- Republicans in Congress have been trying to get rid of Richard Cordray as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for some time. Cordray is now reportedly considering stepping down from that post to possibly run for governor in Ohio [Los Angeles Times].
- LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman is gearing up to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to elect candidates who will resist President Donald Trump‘s agenda [Recode].
- Hurricane Irma has grown to Category 5 as it bears down on the Caribbean and east coast [Washington Post].
On this day in history:
- 1666 – The Great Fire of London ends. Ten thousand buildings were destroyed, but only six people were known to have died.
- 1698 – Russia’s Peter the Great imposed a tax on beards.
- 1774 – The First Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia.
- 1793 – The Reign of Terror began during the French Revolution as the National Convention instituted harsh measures to repress counter-revolutionary activities.
- 1960 – Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) wins the gold medal in the light heavyweight boxing division at the Olympic Games in Rome.
- 1972 – A Palestinian terrorist group called “Black September” attacks and takes hostage 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games. Two died in the attack and nine were murdered the following day.
- 1975 – Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson, attempts to assassinate President Gerald Ford.
- 1978 – Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat begin peace discussions at Camp David.
